Cotton is one of the most water-intensive plants on the planet, and cotton agriculture contributes to desertification and the pollution of the water table in many of the regions where it is grown. (Those are mostly poor regions, with little in the way of environmental regulations or labor protections.) Milling, finishing, and especially, dying cotton uses yet more water, and produces yet more hazardous chemical runoff. Levi's is launching what it says will be a less water-intensive denim line. Currently, the average pair of jeans takes 42 liters of water to produce — but this spring, around 20% of Levi's offerings will be tagged "Water>Less." Those garments will be made using anywhere from 28%-96% less water than usual. [WWD]

Yesterday, H&M said that no celebrities would be allowed to borrow pieces from the Lanvin for H&M collection before its hotly anticipated fashion show launch in New York City. In fact, the spokesperson specifically mentioned Madonna and J.Lo had asked for garments — and been denied. What, then, explains these pictures of Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Roisin Murphy attending a party...dressed in Lanvin for H&M? H&M basically just told Madonna (who once had an H&M line of her own) to suck it. That could be hazardous, one imagines. [Elle UK]

Anna Sui misses the '90s supes, even though they scared her. "It's a different time. We are now going through a period of a lot of Eastern European. It's more about their look than their personalities. It was the most terrifying thing to do fittings with supermodels, because they would come in and look at your Polaroid board, and count how many outfits they had, what order they came out in and who were they next to. They would say things like, 'She is taller than me and I am not coming out after her,' 'How come she has three outfits and I only have two,' and, 'I want that outfit.' They'd literally pull the Polaroid off the board and say they want to wear this. There was a reason they were supermodels, though. When they put on an outfit, everyone was floored." [WWD]

After mansplaining the fashion industry to those who actually work in it, at the Accessories Council awards Kanye West asked to be taken to Lanvin designer Alber Elbaz. They had "a deep conversation" about fashion. [P6]

With Doutzen Kroes and Miranda Kerr among the Angels who are sitting the season out for pregnancy-related reasons, there's also an Angel shortage. So Victoria's Secret promoted Izabel Goulart — and she cried when she found out she'd be getting her panty-wings. [@Glamour_Fashion]

Michael Kors still remembers when he got a bad review from Women's Wear Daily in the 1980s. "They said my collection looked like L. L. Bean deluxe. I wasn't going for that. I thought it was very dressed up. Obviously, there was a difference of opinion." [NYTimes]

Photographer Tim Walker is working on a feature length film, his first. But he doesn't have a script yet. [Fashionologie]

Loro Piano, the über-expensive Italian men's wear brand, is rather taken with a fabric made from the stems of the lotus plant in Burma. It takes 32,000 stems to make one meter of fabric, and the resulting textile — hand-loomed by Burmese women who have teased the fibers out of the stems — has a hand like linen, but resists wrinkling. Loro Piano's first lotus fabric jacket will be available this winter, for around $5,600. [WSJ]

An Italian "investor/photographer" claims that when he asked Tom Ford why he couldn't fit into anything at his store — the Italian is 6'4" and wears an XXL, according to the Post — Ford told him, "You know why? I don't want big fat guys like you in my shop." But the Italian is trying to launch his own men's wear line, so this may just be a desperate ploy for publicity. [P6]

Here is a funny, if superficial, profile of Olivier Zahm. (The piece keeps intimating that there are "critics" of Zahm's work and his lifestyle, but never actually produces any, which leaves the impression that Zahm is rather less controversial than he likes to believe.) Nightlife fixture, oldest hipster in the world, refugee from academia, father, blogger, Rick Moranis/Booger from Revenge of the Nerds double, editor, bedpost-notcher. "Also, he's French," is Paz de la Huerta's contribution. [NYTimes]

Speaking of purple! Julia Restoin-Roitfeld, clad in a purple blouse, shot against a purple background, smiling through rather a lot of purple eyeshadow, appears in a Lancôme ad for purple makeup. [WWD]

A new, no doubt very trendy, revisionist reading of the song "Uptown Girl" posits that Elle MacPherson, notChristie Brinkley, inspired Billy Joel to write it. Apparently, Christie didn't light the fire, because when he wore a younger man's clothes, Joel met a young Australian model, whom he loved just the way she was. But not forever, as it turns out. [NYDN]

Karen Elson says that a young red-haired model by the name of Christina Hendricks did, in fact, influence her fateful decision to dye her hair red. "We did a shoot together and I remember her beautiful red hair, and I had the worst sort of strawberry blonde mousy hair, and she was like, ‘Here, you should dye your hair red, it's going to work for you,'" Elson said. "Then, when I came to New York and I was about to work with Meisel and do the cover of Italian Vogue, he was going to choose red or black; and I willed the red. Thanks to Christina Hendricks, I willed it." [The Cut]

Designers in — where else? — Brooklyn are hosting an all-nutria fashion show. Nutria were brought to the U.S. for their fur, but the giant water rats quickly overtook the local eco-system, and are now a menace up and down the Mississippi. That still doesn't necessarily make wearing a giant water rat appealing...but hey. [Brooklyn Paper]

Liz Claiborne lost less money during the third quarter than it did during the same period last year! Less money meaning $63 million. [WWD]

Someone made a book about the window-dressers at Bergdorf's. [NYTimes]